Improvement



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM WILBER, OF NEW RLANS, LOUISIANA.

'.lMPaovaMi-:N-r IN .carlton-.SEED MULLER-s'. l`

Specification forming part of Lettei., Patent No. l3,556, datedSeptember ll, 1855.

To all wil/0m, it may con/cern.: j

Be it known that I, WILLIAM WiLBE'n, of the city of 'New Orleans, intheparish ot? Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invehted certain new anduseful Improvements injMachinos for Hulling, Brnising, and SeparatingCotton and other Seeds for the` Iurpose of Manufacturing Oil; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact dcscriptionof the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a:part

thereof, in whichr Figure l represents a side elevation o the machine.Fig. 2 represents a vertical longitudinal section through the center ofthe same, and Fig. 8 represents a top or birds-,eyeview Similar lettersinthe several' iigu'res denote like parts. l

The nature of my invention consists, first, 1n combining, in the mannerto be described, the several devices for feeding, crushing,teaz

ing, or mangling cotton-seeds in one continu- 011s eperation; and alsoin the colnbination of the. graduated blasts and screens for the purposeof separating the light impurities without carrying out with them groundseeds. A

To enable` others skilled in the art to make the light particlesof and`use my invention, I will proceed yto de-' scribe the 'same withreference to the draw A stout substantial frame, A, capable ofsupporting the machine, is first constructed, and upon'its highestportion, near 'one end thereof, is arranged the hopper B, having its topportions, C, inclinedinward to prevent the seeds, .which are lifted up.or 'agitated in said hopper, from choking and from -being thrown out.

Cotton-seeds after -leaving the' gin still' retain many bers of thecotton, and these fibers so 'unite andhold the seeds together as to makeanything like regular feeding of them to maehines'a difficult matter.The centerportons of the mass will drop through, leaving that portionnext the sides of the hopper remaining. .It isneeessary, therefore, tothe effective operation of the machine that the feed should be forced. Iaccordingly,for this purpose, place in the hopper, a little to one sidevof the opening in its bottom, a revolving cylinder, 1), having on-itsperiphery saw-teethsh'aped flutes or grooves, 'which pick up or loosenup the seeds from the mass in the hop. per andv cause them to work downtoward the opening, whence they are carried to the erushing or grindingapparatus.

Underneath the hopper B, so as tio revolve in close proximity to theopening in its bottom, or even slightly above or through saidatory-reduction, drop down behind Jthemain grinding or crushing cylinderG, and-its bed or concave H receives them. both the cylinderandA concavemay be roughcned, and they may be made of steel plates or chilledcast-iron segments, or of burr-blocks, whichever may be found mostconvenient-or economical. On the front part of the bed or concave H isrepresented, at I, the steel plates withsharpened edges. .More or lessof 'these concave, -may be thus arranged.

J vis an extended breastplate resting on the front part of the concaveH, and reaching up slightly above the center of the cylinder Gr.l Itismade separate from the concave, so as to -be readily removed andreplaced when Worn out, or when it requires resharpening. The

partially chopped or chaffed'seeds undergo a grinding or crushingoperation between there#V er, a, approaches said cylinder, nearenoughgto thereto, anddirects' it -into the casing K, in `which revolvesa cylinder,- L, provided with beaters b b, and also with. teeth c @whichrun between teeth dy d, iixed in tlre interiongof said lcasing, so as toinangle or tcazethe g'und material, and thus loosen and shake it up fortheseparatinfr. ,p The beaters b on the cyli'iider opening, is placedLthe cylinder E, provided Theseeds thus having undergone their prepar-The surfaces of A steel plates, even to the entire surface of thevolving' cylinder' and its concave, and .are arfv y ried up by thecylinder to the Atop of theeX- tended breastplate J, where an incl-inedserap'g` remove all the crushed -material` adhering L" serve both tothr'oW'th'c material off against the casing and to create a blast to aidthematerial to' pass out of the case K andzin'to' the separators. Thereis an opening, M, in the case K, on the opposite sidethereof from wherelthe material enters the case,`out of whiclropen-l ing M'the material isthrown or carried', and itfthrcwn with enough force strikes. againstthe'hood or shield N. and drops' onto aA spout or.

trough, O,which leads it onto the firs,tjscreengV e, which is one of aseries of graduatedscreens,

as to their meshes, set in a frame, P, inclined,

as seen in the drawings, so that .thematerial .will pass over the seriesof screens Sef.g 'Unf Y derneath the top vseries of I the same framewith them, are other graduated screens, k z' and j 'The'cnti'reboxorfame of screens is agitated by the. cams lil. onwtjhe shafts Q Q,these cams being s'o arranged'as to give the screens a `vertical andlongitudinal motion, both, the one more especially for screen-1 ing,lthe other for conveying the material. along on the screens, thesluggishness-or'gadhesive properties of the ground material being ofsuch i a character thatall its various operations must be forced., Asthe material leaves the spout O to fall'upon the screens, and all thewhile' as it' passes over the screens', it is subjected to lgraduated4blasts from fan-blowers suitably arranged for the purpose, as willv beexplained,"

together with the necessity ofthe.' series of graduated blasts, insteadof one single. blast.

he materia-lf in its crushed, chopped, and mangled state comes .to thescreens'in 'all sizes, s shapes, and of varying specifcgravities, not

according to -their quality,`- but the oily parts often lighter thanthe,chaff,'hull s, or fibrous mixtures, which it is desirable toseparateAfrom the oily portions' of thev` seeds.' If inv such condition a blastsufficient to carry 0H' the hulls,y chaff, &c. were introduced, it wouldcarry off' also the portionsfwhich it is y'desirable to save, and .itwas only 'after 'repeated trials l,and experiments that vthe.

combined-use of graduated screens with .fuated blasts was foundto answerthe purpose", The' first separation must b'e'more with regard to. 'sizethan quality, the second one ap# lpreaches vthe separation .ofqualities, and the.

The 'iist' f separation removesfrom, the mass ,thev por- V'tions'.whichWouldbe carri ed oft' by theblast,

third completes the separation,

of the second, and4 the second separation performsthe same ofce for thethird one. The' A*first blast and'screen are light and of vfine mesh,the second'blast stronger-'than the' rst,

'and the-corresponding screens -coarsen The third blast and screen areincreased in volume and mesh, each preceding fan ..bloWer and lmeshhaving removed the valuable products,

which,v its succeeding co-opcrato'rs Wouldblow oli with the chaff,-hulls,A Ste., if it wereallowed tol come' to them. The first andlightest blast' 'comes from the fan R, passes out of the case 'at m, andpasses between the screens 71, e, up

vthrough the latter, and carriesoifsuch light matter as itsvolume iscapable of removing.

ltiousar'e drivenourfatthef's e chine,` thev blastf i`rom=Wfbeing, asitwere, fa

lI ATheagitation of the screens kis all the while sifting the 'purefromthe impure particles, and allowing the latter to pass or dropthrough the screens into any, 'proper' kreceptacle be-. 4 103W.v Thevseparation which takes place at; the vfirst part ofthe screen and therst' blastad-` mits of the inner andjoil'y portions-'of the seeddropping upon' an inclined board or' chute, S,

after it passes through both screens e h. The.

heavier portions, 'which' neither theirst blast nor screen affects,(more thany this, that the'v blast keeps raising 'them up, yandpreventsthein from clogging lthe meshesfzwhile .the

agitation of the screens. dances 'the .particles screens cfg, but injalong to their-*hal act-1011,). 'pass along-'the finclined screens untiltheyV receive the action'v of the .next more powerful blast from thefan-t' blowerfll, the blast' passing up the trunk andpassing betweenythescreensA j, through fi', and'the'screenf above it,lther ebeing at thispoint triplescreens vby overlapping-,each other.- Hereaif'sef'j'oiid1separationtaires place, the. .purel material droppingIthrough the screens down onto' the inclined board or chute V, 'Whenc'eitis conveyed away,and vthe im- 'pure vo r mixedportions continuingontoward the'ends of the screens, where' it yreceives a still morepowerful blast .fromfthe' fanblower Fig'. 1,'the pure material:dropping' onto the chuteX, while thejlighter ori impure p0r- .of thegacross-blast. "The" portions remaining on 'the 'screens pass oit' attheendof -the irame,' and may be rewo'rked,'if found' to contain anyvaluablematter. y

" .Thebed or.' conczwehlA isset on' al tram- 'block, Y,"and by meansofthe screw-rods p 10 lmay :be raised' or ,'.adjustedvio the :cyliuf 1,'vl j. 'llhe gearing for driving the separate-.parts of the machinehasbeen purposely omittedin ','thespecicatonya description of it notbeing deemedunecessaras it is shown in the drawings,-and would extendthe description to a very 'great length.-

' Having* thus *fully described tl'ie'natu-Ie ofAilly-invention,-iwhat'I claim therein' as new,

and-desire to secure-by Letters Patent, is f 1.,' YThe arrangement v.ofthe hopper B, revolving toothed cylinders D E,`breastplate F,crushingfand grinding cylinder G, concave-bed H, .with removableextended bed-plate J, and toothed cylinder L, revolving -in itstoothedcase K,'.in the',m a1 1ner and-for the purpose 'herein set-forthl' v yA, i y. v. i

2. The'series of graduated blasts R T WV 'and screens e f'g-h z' jk,jfor' the purpose 'of separating vthe oleagiuous from the otherimpurities of the seeds, they being arranged and operating substantiallyin` the manner and for thcpurpose set-forth.

WILLIAM WlLBER. Witnessesz-y l A. B. S'roncHToN', THoMAs H. U'PPERMAN.

